


Dorothea/Mercedes Support Chain

by bethany81707



Category: Fire Emblem Series, Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Crimson Flower, F/F, Flirting, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Original Support Conversations (Fire Emblem), Referenced prostitution, story telling
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-18
Updated: 2021-02-18
Packaged: 2021-03-13 22:27:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,804
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29533359
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bethany81707/pseuds/bethany81707
Summary: My version of Dorothea and Mercedes's C-B-B+-A Support chain. B+ starts the timeskip.
Relationships: Dorothea Arnault & Mercedes von Martritz, Dorothea Arnault/Mercedes von Martritz
Kudos: 11





	Dorothea/Mercedes Support Chain

Dorothea was well adapted to the piercing gaze of judgemental nobles, and they had only increased in number on arriving in Garreg Mach, home of the most judgemental of them all- the religious. After her fiftieth-odd lecture from a priest about how she should pray more and date less, she came to the conservatory relieved to take a break, only to feel a judgemental gaze stronger than most come to rest on her. Dorothea looked around for the origin of such a look, and noticed her looking up from an empty table.

“Care for a drink, Dorothea?” Mercedes asked, swirling her spoon absently and spilling her tea. Dorothea tentatively took her seat, the immense pressure giving her a rare bout of stage fright for her audience of one.

“Do you have any reason to talk to me, Mercedes?” Dorothea asked.

“None in particular, Dorothea. But now that we’re in the same class, I thought it might be nice to see if we have anything in common. You’re a singer, outgoing and a fashion mistress. It’s just like having another Annie around!” Mercedes said with a giggle.

“ _ Right _ … Well, I have a bit of a problem with judgemental nobles and you’re making me quite uncomfortable, so if it’s not too much trouble, might I ask to leave now?” Dorothea asked.

“Oh, I’m sorry! I meant no offence. People call me a ditz, but you’d be surprised at how the decisions some people make can reveal their weaknesses. It’s my duty as their friend to help soothe them and cover them up before other people can take advantage,” Mercedes said. Dorothea raised an eyebrow.

“Is that so?” Dorothea asked.

“Quite. You have quite the chip on your shoulder because of all the awful men that have been in your life, haven’t you? I have experience with that sort of thing too, Dorothea. I can’t say I’ll be much help to you with it, though, since if I could, I’d probably have my own ducks in a row, but a problem shared is a problem halved,” Mercedes said.

“...Can… can I think about it, Mercedes?” Dorothea asked.

“Oh, of course! Do you think a more normal conversation might help, or are you done?” Mercedes asked.

“Yeah… I think I’m done. Talking to you is hard work,” Dorothea said.

“Honestly, it’s not any more fun being me,” Mercedes said, with a sigh that proved her point.

* * *

Dorothea entered the library cautiously, watching Annette leave it with a precariously stacked pile of books in the other direction. She sat down beside Mercedes, ready to have a conversation with her, only to watch as Mercedes peered intently in Annette’s direction for a few moments.

“And… she’s got the hang of those books. Hello, Dorothea, how have you been?” Mercedes asked.

“Can’t complain. Well, not in here,” Dorothea said. Mercedes gave a non-committal shrug.

“I know exactly what you’re implying, and I agree and refuse to say anything more on the subject for the same reasons. What about your dating scene? More lecherous guys who just want to touch a hot girl?” Mercedes asked.

“Finding guys like that is like looking for classmates with problems with the world. I get more disappointed the more I realise it’s basically all of them,” Dorothea sighed.

“I’d start therapy sessions, but I’m behind on my classwork enough as it is. I’ve settled for sliding the suggestion under Seteth’s door every week. He hasn’t told me to stop yet,” Mercedes said.

“...Wait a second, did you call me a hot girl?” Dorothea asked. Mercedes blinked, clearly taking even longer to remember that part of the conversation. To be fair, Dorothea had missed it too.

“...I suppose I did, huh? What are your objections?” Mercedes asked.

“I wouldn’t call them  _ objections _ , I just didn’t think a religious woman like you would call a woman hot so casually. Don’t you have vows of chastity or something?” Dorothea asked.

“Not in this religion, thank Sothis. The vow of poverty sucks, though, and I can only imagine obedience is worse. But I’m perfectly free to have some romantic interest, and I haven’t found anything against that interest being in other women. Besides, even the blind could tell you you’re hot,” Mercedes said.

“Yeah, well, hot doesn’t keep food in your belly forever,” Dorothea said.

“If there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s that there’s not a lot that does. Dorothea, I hate to say you’re wasting your time, but… you’re wasting your time. You’re never going to find the happiness you seek if you follow the money,” Mercedes said.

“So what does that mean, lie down and let myself be forgotten by the corrupt nobility? This rose won’t go down without a fight,” Dorothea said, getting to her feet with a newfound confidence. Mercedes watched her go with a forlorn look on your face.

“But a marriage to a noble will only leave you forgotten by them in time anyway…” she mumbled, wondering just what the answer really was.

* * *

Mercedes watched Dorothea give a comforting pat on the back to one of the many kids running around Garreg Mach, feeling a sense of pride in the woman she had become.

“Hey there, Mercie. Haven’t seen you in a while,” Dorothea said.

“No, we’ve been missing each other for a bit, actually. Is that a genuine military thing or have you been avoiding me?” Mercedes asked.

“No, nothing like that, it must’ve been the mixup thing,” Dorothea said quickly.

“So you’ve been taking on these kids as your own burden? Might I politely ask why?” Mercedes asked.

“Oh, well, I was an orphan once. I know how it feels to be out in the open, with no one to look after you, no one to feed you, and everyone to judge you for whatever transgression apparently put you in that position. If I can make it so other people don’t have to live through that, then that’s my life’s purpose found,” Dorothea explained.

“That’s… that’s awful. I always thought my life was as bad as you could get, but at least I didn’t have to fight for the right for food…” Mercedes said.

“Nobles always live high and mighty, and think they are the ones who are poor because they own the least amount of land or have the smallest number of gold crowns. It’s… the more I listen to Edelgard, the more disgusting it gets,” Dorothea said.

“And then there are the nobles like me. I wasn’t a noble with luxuries, I was one of the luxuries as soon as someone other than my mother got a reason to claim me. One of the men who claimed the title of my father was using it as a means to claim me as a wife later because I have a Crest and a Crested child with me would make him… I forget, is it ‘richer’ or ‘more influential’?” Mercedes asked.

“Who cares, they’re both going down the drain soon,” Dorothea scoffed.

“It wasn’t until I met Annie and lived with her that I started to understand the true value of a loving home. And when I’m saying Annie taught me that lesson, you know how bad other people have it,” Mercedes said.

“A loving home… do you think Edelgard’s society will bring that about?” Dorothea asked.

“I do not believe it is an explicit goal of hers, but quite frankly, she has too many explicit goals if she wants to keep that early retirement. If you want to help give that to children, you should take on that burden yourself. And if she doesn’t approve, then it’s time to choose a different side,” Mercedes said.

“Oh, trust me, she’ll approve. Running a home for victims of poverty… got any advice so we can start building it?” Dorothea asked.

“Plenty,” Mercedes said with a nod and a smile.

* * *

“And then she turned the corner, and beyond it was none other than the Ghoul of Morgaine!” Mercedes proclaimed. The children she was narrating too leaned back in horror, especially as Mercedes had managed to make herself look quite large.

“Did it get her?” one boy asked.

“It took a swing at her, but she got a kick in first. Tumbled down and all of a sudden it didn’t look so scary. It was a bandit in disguise, and the fool didn’t know how to handle being kicked!” Dorothea said.

“But… but what about all the other girls?” a girl asked.

“Kidnapped, not eaten. Lynn found a few of them, too. Poor things, so hungry and weak, but she freed them all,” Dorothea said.

“Lynn is awesome!” a different girl cheered, as the kids gradually headed off to start playing the part.

“...That’s a curious ending for the story,” Mercedes remarked.

“Oh… sorry, Mercie. I just hate tragic endings,” Dorothea said. Mercedes raised an eyebrow.

“...Look, Edie can still have her happy ending. But my whole life was one big tragedy, and tragedy follows all my friends. I just don’t know what the point of a story that tells of another tragedy when I can get a front row seat to truly nasty stuff by sleeping in Hilda’s bedroom for a change,” Dorothea said.

“That’s fair. Ghost stories usually end in tragedy, though, so that’s how I’m used to telling them,” Mercedes remarked.

“Yes, because around a campfire, just before bedtime, is the perfect time to become paranoid of every single shadow… actually, wait, never mind, it is. Still, though, here in the monastery, in sanctuary? These kids need to know that there will be safety. They’ve grown up genuinely believing that worse things than ghouls will come to take them in the night,” Dorothea said.

“Using ghost stories as a tool for heightened awareness? I wonder what purpose other kinds of stories serve,” Mercedes said.

“Then perhaps we ought to find out. Maybe it’ll make me feel less bad about performing them,” Dorothea suggested.

“Then it’s a date. How will we do it?” Mercedes asked.

“...Mercie, I’m still catching up on the word ‘date’,” Dorothea stammered.

“Oh, don’t worry, I’ll show you a little mercy,” Mercedes said, without skipping a beat. Dorothea turned away, trying desperately not to explode and feeling like she was failing miserably.

“...Tomorrow night, then?” Mercedes asked, looking over Dorothea’s shoulder curiously.

* * *

_ When Mittelfrank reopened after the war’s end, it was expanded to include not just the opera, but lodgings for the poor. Dorothea and the opera stars who followed her became mothers to those who no longer had their own, and the tales she wove for them on stage became their guiding light as they grew older. To herself, however, no guiding light shone brighter than that of Mercedes, the kindly matron who ran the soup kitchen next door, and she described their wedding as her greatest story. _


End file.
